


Imperfectly Perfect

by TheYellowTurtle



Category: VIXX
Genre: Bromance, Friendship, Graduation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-16
Updated: 2014-07-16
Packaged: 2018-02-09 04:09:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1968486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheYellowTurtle/pseuds/TheYellowTurtle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Taekwoon contemplates the end of his friendship with Hakyeon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Imperfectly Perfect

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on AFF.
> 
> Yay?
> 
> Some BTOB members make an appearance...

It's cold. I eye my knitted, burgundy muffler on the wooden floor. Graduation etiquette requires students to properly wear their uniforms, meaning no scarves even though the walls of the school can't stop the February air from seeping in.  

At least it's the last time I'll have to wear the stupid thing. By the end of the day, as per tradition, my high school uniform will be stained by eggs and coated with flour. 

My eyes find Hakyeon sitting in the front row with the other members of the student council. His hair is curled for the occasion. He grins widely as he talks to the boy next to him.

I let out a sigh and lean back in the metal, folding chair. 

Today will be the last time for a lot of things.

 

***

 

_I stare at my hands resting on top of my English book. I study the white knuckles and curving lines. Don't make eye contact. Don't make eye contact. Don't make eye contact. The only thing worse than English was speaking in English._

_I don't want the teacher to call on me. I don't want everyone's eyes to be on me. And I certainly do not want to open my mouth, to speak in front of all these people._

_Don't make eye contact. Don't make eye contact. Don't make eye contact._

_"Hey." I jump in my seat and turn towards the source of the sound. It's my seat mate. He has a relatively tall and thin stature, a face easy on the eyes and skin darker than the average Korean. It's safe to say that he's good looking._

_My eyes meet his briefly before they dart to something easier to look at like his neck. His neck, now that I'm looking at it, is a bit longer than normal._

_"Hey, the teacher said we have to practice English by conversing with our desk mate." I glance around the room to find everyone already stumbling over their English. When I turn back, my desk mate's lips are pursed as his fingers tap against the top of his English book._

_"Ok," I feel his stare on me, "You can start."_

_"Hello, I am Cha Hakyeon. It is v-very nice to meet you." Hakyeon. I register the name._

_"H-hello, I am Jung Taekwoon. I-it is v-very nice to meet y-you, too." I internally cringe. I hate speaking in foreign languages. My accent is always so off._

_"What do you l-like to do?" I wrack my mind for an answer. What's something I like and know how to say...? Oh!_

_"I l-like to sing." There's a pause and I'm left wondering if I butchered the pronunciation. It wouldn't be the first time._

_I quickly glance at Hakyeon and am surprised to find him grinning. His hands reach out to grasp my arms, causing me to jolt in my seat. "You like singing?!" He's switched to Korean in his excitement. I find myself meekly nodding. "I like singing, too!"_

_His eyes are crinkled and his lips as far as they can spread. "Who is your favorite singer? What genres do you like? Do you have a favorite song you like to sing? Do yo-"_

_The teacher yells at him to only use English before he continue on with his rambling. For the rest of the day, he asks me questions about anything and everything._

_Despite his chattering and touchiness, I find myself smiling through all of it._

 

***

 

Hakyeon is dressed to a T. His temporary wavy hair is styled perfectly, his uniform jacket is all smooth lines and most noticeably his posture is without a flaw. His head is held high. He looks so sure of himself. I grin to myself. No, he is sure of himself. He's not the Hakyeon he was three years ago.

His hands rest on the sides of the podium as he leans into the microphone. "Parents, administrators, teachers, and my fellow classmen, we have reached our conclusion. We have finally reached the end of yet another step of life."

I adjust my necktie. 

Another step, another end. 

 

***

 

_I nibble on the tteokbokki as Hakyeon babbles on about "the most amazing girl ever" between bites of his own tteokbokki. I think it's Seohyun this time. It's hard to keep track of. Hakyeon takes advantage of his good-looks quite frequently, even if he never seems to date them._

_"Taekwoon, isn't this really good? We should come back to this vendor again." His words cause the vendor ahjumma to show a toothy grin._

_I simply nod as I take another bite of the spicy treat._

_"Taekwoon, on a scale of one to ten, how good is the tteokbokki?"_

_I chew and stare him in the eye._

_His lips curl into a frown, before he does a flying leap to latch onto me. "Taekwoon!"_

_I take a break from my eating to pull his tight grip off of me._

_He crosses his arms and continues to pout at me. "Why don't you care about me as much as I care about you?" He places his hands on his cheeks for dramatic effect. I roll my eyes and continue my consumption of food._

_He throws up his hands and walks away from the food booth. I quickly follow._

_We continue that way for twenty minutes or so, me trailing behind his dragged steps. I soon finish my snack and find myself staring at his back. His shoulders are shrugged and his head is hung low. I sigh to myself. He must still be upset about what those guys said earlier. He always wants to go eat snacks when he's feeling down._

_"Your skin is nice," I call out. He comes to a stop.  "Your tan skin is nice, it's not ugly."_

_He turns around and I manage a little smile. I mean it. Despite what those asswipes said, there is nothing wrong with Hakyeon's skin. It's perfect the way it is._

_He bites his lower lip. "Do you mean it or are you only saying that to make me feel better?"_

_"I mean it."_

_His smile shows all of his teeth._

 

***

 

I shake the principal's hand with my right and grab my diploma with my left. It's a weird experience. 

I thought I would be feeling something at the end of it all, but my head remains clear. 

I find Hakyeon clapping in the audience. 

 

***

 

_"I think I'm going to join student council and run for class president."_

_I look up from the keys of the piano as I continue to play._

_He looks down and fiddles with the cuffs of his jacket. "I'd have to quit music club to do that."_

_My fingers freeze as he hops down from the desk he was sitting on. We joined the club together because we both liked singing and music and it was a good way to hang out with the demanding schedule of school._

_"It's ok. Do what makes you happy."_

_He grins and pats me on the back despite my frequent rejection of his skinship. He slings his bag over his shoulder. "I have to go. I promised I would meet up with Minhyuk in a couple of minutes. Be safe getting home."_

_I slide down the cover for the keys. "Don't worry about it. Eunkwang wanted to play a quick game of football."_

_He nods in understanding. "I'll be leaving first."_

_I wave a hand and watch his figure disappear through the door. When I'm sure he's gone, I lean back against the piano as I ruffle my bangs._

_I'm not sure what to do with this sudden weight lifted from my shoulders._

 

***

 

I perfunctorily listen to the chorus do their mandatory performance. I'm glad the seniors didn't have to participate. 

My fingers tap against my leg. 

Just a little bit more until it's over.

 

***

 

_I scratch behind Wonsik's ears causing him to make happy, little pants. The bulldog gives an appreciative lick to the palm of my hand. I return the favor by pecking the top of his head._

_The buzz of my cell reminds me why I sought out Wonsik's affection. Hakyeon._

_I understood that he wanted to try new things and I was fine with that, being in the student council made him happy. However, his absence gave me more time to think._

_It was nice not having him nagging me about things. Did you eat? Did you shower? Did you do your homework? Are you going to be ok for that class presentation? Remember to do your tie properly. Remember to smile at people._

_It was Hakyeon's way of showing affection, I knew that and it was a good thing that he was caring. However, it was suffocating. Hakyeon joining student council gave me more room to breathe._

_It was easier to ignore texts than him in person._

_Wonsik whines and I return to scratching behind his ears._

 

***

 

I poke Eunkwang in the shoulder. He jumps in his seat before turning to me wide-eyed and grinning. "Do you wanna play football after this is all over? Minseok was up for it earlier when I asked him."

He pushes the long bangs out of his eyes, "Sure, my parents have to go back to work after this anyway."

I smile and turn back to face the principal who is in the middle of giving us his send-off. It would be accurate to say no one cares, especially with how many of us are whispering to our friends as he delivers his final lecture. We're done. Hell year is over and done with as soon as he finishes preaching.

I snort when I see Hakyeon vividly motioning to Minhyuk with grand hand gestures. Even the class president has stopped giving a fuck. 

Wait. No, he didn't stop giving a fuck, he just found something else to care about. Glancing around the room, I'm sure a lot of us found new things to care about. We've graduated from one thing to the next. 

It's a bittersweet feeling. 

 

***

 

_"Taekwoon!" I spin around on my heel to find Hakyeon speed-walking towards me._

_The spring air is cool against my skin. The only sounds I can hear are that of the crickets and Hakyeon's steps as I make my way to the bus stop. Exams are coming up, so the teachers are keeping us later and later into the night._

_"Hyung," I nod in his direction. I haven't seen him for a couple of months. Sure, I saw him in passing, but there were no in depth conversations. We were in different classes this year and our friend groups seemed to never intersect._

_However, I'm ok with this arrangement. Somewhere along the road Hakyeon had become a nagging presence constantly breathing down my neck. I don't hate him. It's just at some point, I realized I didn't want a second mother and he realized that my silent responses had changed and we moved on. We never talked about why we no longer saw each other. I simply turned left and he turned right._

_"What's up?"_

_He walks in stride with me as he think of a response. "Five months. Sunmi and I just had our five month anniversary," he sings with hearts in his eyes._

_I register the name. She's pretty, but more on the clingy, over-dependent side. She wouldn't be my first pick for Hakyeon, but whatever floats his boat._

_"I hope that goes well, hyung." He nods at my statement and turns to face the road in front of him._

_We remain that way until we reach the bus stop; in stride with each other, silence being our only companion besides our thoughts._

_I wonder if he's thinking about it, too. How we have reached that point where I don't even know who he is dating, let alone who he likes._

_"This is my stop," I announce as I take a seat on the bench._

_"Bye, Taekwoon. It was nice talking to you." I nod and watch him walk away, his head held high._

_I wonder if he's thought about it, too. Whether or not it would be better to yell at each other, then let the divide between us grow larger and larger. If it would be worth it to save our friendship before moving onto college._

_Sometimes I wonder why my mind can't move on like my body._

 

***

 

I send my parents off with a wave as I clutch the bouquet in my hands. Despite the winter season, the flowers are bright reds and pinks. 

I pull my scratchy muffler up to cover more of my face. It's colder than I thought it would be outside. 

"Taekwoon!" I jump at the call of my name and turn to find Hakyeon with his own bouquet of flowers briskly walking towards me. He raises a hand with a handheld camera dangling off the wrist. "Do you wanna take a picture?"

"Sure," I reply as I pull two carnations out from my bouquet. I quickly break the stems, before placing one behind my ear and offering the other to him. He rolls his eyes and I simply smirk. "It's not my fault you chose to have one of the most bizarre senior photos of all time."

He laughs at the mention of the picture. Flower behind the ear, hand palm out to the camera and a Hakyeon stank face in all its glory; it had amused me greatly when I first saw it. 

With our flowers in place, he raises the camera and quickly snaps a picture. 

"Did it come out well?" 

He lets out a laugh and turns the camera to me. "It came out as well as it possibly could." I grin when I see the near perfect reenactment. 

"Hakyeon-hyung," he looks into my eyes, biting his lip. I wonder if he's thinking about things left unsaid as well. "Good luck."

He blinks a couple of times, "You, too, Taekwoon." 

I nod my head and reach into my pocket where a couple of eggs are resting. The one I throw ends up hitting him square in the chest. He brings a hand to his heart with an exaggerated gasp. "Taekwoon, how could you do this to an unarmed man?"

I shrug my shoulders with a smile on my face. "You'll be throwing the thing out by the end of the day anyway," he glares at me with his lips in a scowl, "You better go, hyung. I think I heard Sunmi calling for you."

He shakes his head with a laugh. "Bye, Jung Taekwoon."

"Bye, Cha Hakyeon."

I watch him run off in search of his clingy girlfriend, tucking my hand not holding the bouquet into my coat pocket. 

We chose to simply let things be.

It's a bittersweet feeling. 

 

***

 

10 Years Later. 

 

"Nurse Lee, can you please separate Ken from the rest of the cats? He's making them irritable with all of his yowling," I check over my schedule for the next appointment, Cha H- "Oh! And make sure to keep the females away from Hongbin. He's too pretty for his own good, they keep pouncing on him."

"Right away," the middle aged woman replies gently.

"Thank you," I call out before turning back to the next patient's file. Taekwoon the cat. I chuckle to myself over the strange coincidence. I stand up from my desk, stretching my neck, as I make my way to the room. 

I swing open the door only to freeze in my steps. It's Cha Hakyeon. He still looks the same, if not better. The only difference being that his hair is a bright red, a shade I'm not sure how he got away with at work. 

Our mouths seem to drop and our eyes seem to widen simultaneously. 

"Jung Taekwoon!"

"Cha Hakyeon!" 

He's laughing, I am too over the coincidence. 

"You named your cat after me?" I question looking at the black ball of fluff lounging on table. 

He doesn't even try to say otherwise and nods his head. "Yeah. What else was I supposed to name this insufferable existence?" 

My eyes narrow at him. "Sunmi?"

He brings a hand to his heart. "I married her. That's my wife you're talking about."

Fuck. I open my mouth to apologize, but I seem to be incapable of forming words. Fuck. 

He continues to glare at me, before a grin breaks onto his face. He bends over laughing. "I'm just joking. You should have seen your face!"

I smack his arm, before joining him in his fit of laughter.

"It's nice seeing you again, Hakyeon-hyung." 

His smile shows all of his teeth. 

"You, too, Taekwoon."


End file.
